May 2, 2016

"Most aspiring First Ladies chase accessibility to the point of absurdity—Teresa Heinz Kerry called herself an 'African-American' when she spoke to black audiences—but Melania positions herself as aspirational, playing ice queen rather than soccer mom. Not only does she never joke about her husband; she is entirely self-serious. The most un-American thing about her is that she is discreet about her weaknesses. She doesn’t attempt to bond by deprecating herself. She makes no apologies for her twenty-five-carat diamond (a gift from Trump for their tenth anniversary), her formal life style ('He’s not a sweatpants child,' she has said, of Barron), her multiple houses ('Bye! I’m off to my #summer residence #countryside #weekend')."

This is actually refreshing--a rich man's wife acting like a rich man's wife. We elect presidents, not first ladies, so who cares whether they're nice or try to help win votes? Not their business! Teresa Kerry was just laughable because they tried to make her personable and failed miserably.

You know what I liked about Calvin Coolidge's wife, Midge Coolidge? No one knows who she is! In fact, I probably have her name wrong, and I don't care.

So, The New Yorker is anti-immigrant and anti-native. They are first, second, and always opportunistic or pro-choice. Class diversity is newspeak for racist, sexist, etc.

Heinz is African-American. At least until the international leftists colluded with the African ISIS to destroy the native white and black Africans in South Africa, Rhodesia, etc, and today in Egypt, Libya, Sudan, etc. And now through class diversity policies denies native status to men, women, and children who are legally natives by right and jurisdiction, and backs redistributive change and mass exodus to exploit and suppress native populations.

Well that's the basic thing that Lauren Collins gets wrong. We don't. If we did then George H. W. Bush wins in 1992 in a landslide because Hillary was already showing that she was a worthless shrew -- and that's on her best days.

Nice fact-checking on the part of the New Yorker. Among other things Melania's engagement ring is a 15 carat emerald cut diamond -- not 25 carats. The hit piece knocks Donald Trump for not visiting Melania's birthplace -- but Sevnica is a quaint town of 5000 people and apparently Melania's memories of the place are not the best.

A few questions about the "imperial" Melania are unanswered by this hit piece. Does she refer to her Secret Service detail as "pigs," the way that Hillary Clinton is known to have referred to the people who signed on to take a bullet for her when she was First Lady? Would she sic the FBI on a travel office for some imaginary indiscretion?

Another example of media bias, showing how the media spins when Trump isn't involved:

Daily Mail HeadlineThe battle of Seattle 2016: Nine arrested and five cops hurt as May Day protesters run through the streets hurling rocks, fireworks and Molotov cocktails at police officers

First sentence:

The clashes in Seattle followed a peaceful march in the city earlier in the day by advocates for workers and immigrants, just one of several events in cities nationwide Sunday marking May Day.

Note the "clashes" followed "peaceful marches". The author tries to isolate the violence and protect the protesters. Yet when Trump is involved journalists try to remove the distinction between opposing groups (rather than just allies) to taint Trump with the actions of his opponents. We've seen many instances of this media protection such as Ferguson where gunshots and Molotov cocktails were described as coming after 'mostly/otherwise peaceful protests'.

Althouse, many of your commentors seem to be ignorant of the fact that it was Jacqueline Kennedy who brought the "imperial" fashion attitude to the White House in the 1960s. Was their ever a presidential family who thought of themselves as being "royalty" than the Kennedys.Jackie insisted on a POET LAUREATE for Jack's inauguration (Robert Frost), something that was never part of the ceremony and considered pretentious at the time.As first lady, she redecorated and put the White House on display in a famous television special to flaunt her good taste.Scores of the social and entertainment elite attended lavish affairs that the president and first lady hosted.Vaunting their riches, the president was the first not to take a salary for his time in office. (Bootleg money, schrewdly invested by father Joe through the decades, provided "the jack" Jackie and Jack spent on their high living.)Jackie Bouvier Kennedy was the daughter of a well-heeled Wall Street stockbroker. Her mother was a well known socialite.So, we could reasonably make the statement, "Jackie Kennedy was as imperial as her husband supposed himself to be, if not more so."

The tone is rather different from Collins 2008 article about Michelle Obama when Michelle was the "aspiring" First Lady.

Poor Girl from Uncool European Country Uses Her Beauty, Charm, Intelligence, Determination, Talent, Restraint and Moral Outlook to Succeed in Competitive and Nasty Modeling World, Marries Billionaire and Does Not Suck Up to American Press.

"Who writes this stuff?"A childless, insanely jealous, 35 y.o. Lefty named Lauren Collins, that's who. But she's cool with Melinda Gates spending 200 million or so of her husband's dough to use women in Africa as guinea pigs for their (and Warren Buffet's) debilitating long-acting synthetic hormone laced contraceptives that make their pharmaceutical holdings shares soar. Melinda has more wealth as a result of her husband than Melania ever will, but for Ms. Collins, since Melinda shares the same political mentality, she's not a "kept" woman. See http://www.newyorker.com/news/lauren-collins/melinda-gates-takes-on-the-vatican

A couple other samples of her writings: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/kate-and-ross

It's women like Ms. Collins that seek to limit women's true freedom of choice in how they live their lives--the shaming of stay at home Mom's by non-moms seems to be a psychological salve to keep their subconscious desire to be one kept under an ugly, festering scab.

Collins went to Princeton. Mommy and Daddy are from Duke. Mommy and Daddy grew up in Manhattan, Long Island and the Philly suburbs. They settled in Wilmighton, N.C. (Wrightsville Beach) a nice American place where Daddy was a successful lawyer. They produced a very pretty (she shows a lot of leg on stage) and reasonably smart daughter who started out working for Vogue and got a gig at the New Yorker. She once did a long piece on Donatella Versace. During one of the interviews she threw up on her subject but the project went on.

It's hard to see how Collins could have much insight into a private woman with Melania's background. No experience and no empathy.

I think we should elect a First Lady separately from the President and require the two to get married and have sexual intercourse unless the President is female, in which case she has sexual intercourse with Webb Hubbell.

I am still trying to figure out why no one questions Michelle Obama's ability to manage the menus at public schools. She has no relevant training or experience in nutrition or economics, and her own children have never attended public school.Yet journalists cover Michelle Obama's 'school lunch' vocation as though it is a normal, rational thing.I suppose that it is good she did not decide to redesign the International Space Station.

"I am still trying to figure out why no one questions Michelle Obama's ability to manage the menus at public schools. She has no relevant training or experience in nutrition or economics, ..."

Ah, but she was on the Board of a huge food manufacturing company. (I can't remeber the name of it, sorry.) I wonder if that co. (or its subsidiaries) just happens to be a major supplier of the school lunches.

@Meeeeea, it was Treehouse Foods. They're a conglomerate that owns Flagstone Foods, a maker of healthy snack products. However Michelle Obama severed all ties to Treehouse because one of their major customers is WalMart, and like all good members of the Left wing her husband is publicly opposed to WalMart.

According to Wikipedia, Michelle Obama has undergrad degrees in sociology and black studies. Her academic career seems to have been unremarkable. She complained that the French language course she took at Princeton wasn't conversational enough. Her professional career after graduating from Harvard is unremarkable as well. She excelled at fundraising for Mayor Daley.Apparently her greatest accomplishment is realizing that she could be "both brilliant and Black."

The wall on the Mexican border is actually designed to keep Americans in. No fleeing from his Lordship's estate! You damn vassals, who do you think you are?!

In 2020, there's another "election" and his royal highness wins that one, too. His platform is to build a new wall on the Canadian border, to keep all those damn Detroit people from trying to swim away. "How dare you try to escape my beautiful home!" Trump loves us all.

The Supreme Court would have called this unconstitutional, but his Lordship forgot to nominate a replacement for Justice Scalia. So they vote, 4-4, in perpetuity. When Trump runs in 2024, and people complain, he says, "I need to show Barron how to rule! Later on there will be a royal wedding and you can smile obediently." All hail Trump!

I hope that, if Trump is elected, Melania decides to champion nutritious and calorie-conscious public school lunches, just so we can see the Times editorial board condemn her for getting involved in a public policy matter about which she has no education or experience, even as a parent. All, of course, without mentioning Michelle Obama.What does it say about Michelle Obama that she got involved in public school lunch menus? Her training is as a lawyer, not a parent. When she was first lady, Hillary designed a healthcare reform proposal. Michelle gives your kids carrot sticks. Jesus.